Learn how to program Snake using Python

[frauenfelder]

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/09/04/learn-how-to-program-snake-usi.html

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[Medievalist]

[Medievalist]

I really like Python, despite having done almost no programming in it.

I like the way it has the power to do things like Perl or C can, but without the syntax that encourages brain-hurting algorithms. I have never met a Python program I couldn’t just read without consulting a manual, and I’ve never had a problem locating a bug in a Python script when I knew the GIGO and symptoms.

Also, I met Guido Van Rossum in NYC on time and I thought he was a nice guy. Not sure why that matters, but it does!

[LapsedPacifist]

I do like Python a lot and the ecosystem around it is simply lovely. I will hold its use of whitespace-as-code against it, though. With a good IDE it isn’t as much of a problem, but boy do I not like invisible things being able to trip me or, crucially, my students up.

[Purplecat]

@Medievalist

I have never met a Python program I couldn’t just read without consulting a manual, and I’ve never had a problem locating a bug in a Python script when I knew the GIGO and symptoms.

It’s like the old joke- Python is executable pseudocode, Perl is executable line noise.

[Medievalist]

@LapsedPacifist

I will hold its use of whitespace-as-code against it, though.

That’s my big beef with awk. And with the original Berkeley syslog. And sendmail.cf… but I still think awk, despite it’s beautifully elegant design, has the worst use of whitespace ever. I mean, it’s not just significant, it’s literally an operator.